Improvement in clock amd watch escapements



2 Sheets-Sheet MOZART. BEACH & HUBBELL.

Clock and Watch Escapement. No. 40,851 Patented Dec. 8. 1863.

[WM J76 I MOZART, BEACH & HUBBELL.

Clock and Watch Escapement.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

N0. 40,851. Patented Dec. 8, 1863'.

- PORTE HUBBELL, of

T NI

TED STATES DON J. MOZART, OF NEYV YORK,

AND LAPORTE HU PATENT error...

v, LEVI BEACH, or FARMINGTON,

BBELL, OF BRISTOL, CONNEGTlCUT.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 4i,5 5,

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be it known that we, DON J. MOZART, of? New York city, county, and State of N ew York, LEVI BEACH, of Farmington, in the county of l Hartford and State of Connecticut, and LA- Bristol,Hartt'ord county, 5 State cf Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Escapement for Clocks and Watches; and we do hereby declare that the following is y a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reft erence being had to the accompanying draw- 1 ings, making a part of this specification, in 1 whicht Figure l is a side view of my improved eseapement applied to the stafi'of the balancei wheel of common clock-movements. Fig. 2 is a back view of the adjustable plate which 5 supports the escapernent balance-wheel and i spring. Figs. 3 and 4 are greatly enlarged l views representing the two positions of the 1 escapement-staff and the relative positions of the teeth of the scape-wheel thereto. Fig. 5 is a side view of the escapement-stafi scape and balaneewheels,and balance spring,greatly enlarged. Fig. 6 shows the face of the escapement-staft'. Fig. 7 is an enlarged cross-sec i tional view of this staff, showing its two points of repose.

Similar letters of l sponding parts in the several figures.

The object of this invention is chiefly to remove the evils attending friction and complication in clock and watch esca pements by constructing the balance-wheel staff or verge in such manner and of such form that a scapewheel of the ordinary ratchet formsuch, for instance, as are used in anchor-escapementsmay be applied directly to said verge without the intervention of lovers or other like 0011- 3 trivanees. It also has for its object so 0011- structing the verge of the balance-wheel and i applying the escapement-wheel thereto that any increase or diminution of the force of the motive power will make very little or no change on the timekeeping, and, also, so that l the vibrations of the balance-wheel will be allowed to move more freely and independently, all as will be hereinafter explained.

To enable others skilled in the art to make 1 and use our invention, we will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

Ve have represented the improved escapeefcrenee indicate corre- 'of the verge b b.

dated December 8, 1563.

ment considerably out of proportion, with a view to explain clearly its peculiarities. In practice, the verge of the balance-wheel will be very much smaller for awheel of this size, and there will consequently be much less friction at the points of repose.

The drawings show the spring-clock, in which A A represent the pillow-plates, to the upper end of which the overhanging adjustable bracket A is fixed by screws a a, which pass through a vertical slot, a, in the vertical portion of this bracket. In this bracket are the pivot bearings of the verge b I), which latter carries an ordinary balance-wheel, c, and a hair or balance spring, 0, which may be set for fast or slow running by any of the well known setting devices. The wheel of repose or scape-wheel d is keyed to the staff h, which has its pivot-bearings in the pillow-plates A and carries on one end a lantern-pinion, c, which receives the motive power from the train of wheel-work and communicates the movement to the scape-wheel. The scape-wheel form, having its t as shown in Figs.

upper part of a eeth considerably undercut, 3 and 4. This ratchetwvheel (1 acts upon, and is acted upon in turn, by the pallets or enlarged portion 1) of the verge I), which is constructed in the following manner: A cylindrical staffofthe propersize is subjected to the operation of a circular rotating cutter having a peculiar'shaped cutting-edge, which produces the channeled and curved depressions (shown clearly in Figs. 5, 6, and 7) and forms two points of repose, n n, for the end of the teeth of the scape-wheel (I, both of which points are in a line bisecting the axis The inner repose or pallet, nearest the axis of the removing the metal around sufficiently to allow the points of nthat which is vergeis formed by the center to the inner repose, a.

This channel i may be made circular,

as shown in Fig. 7, or it may be made angular, the side pallet, n, inclining or beveling outward in such manner as to allow the teeth of wheel (1 to escape freely and with little or no friction, after giving impulse to the balancewheel or the verge of this Wheel. The two longitudinally-curved surfaces jj are beveled in such a manner that the dis of the common ratchet teeth of the scape-wheel slide over them in escaping from one pallet to another, and this prevents the teeth from striking suddenly on the pallets, as would not be the case if the entire interior of the verge was hollowed out,

leaving a mere shell of a semi cylinder, and,

the oscillations of the verge being contrary to the rotation of the scape-whee], there will be very little friction at the points of contact. Besides, if the teeth of the scape-wheel were allowed to fly from the circumference of this verge, the outer repose, through a space nearly equal to the diameter of the verge, without breaking the force of impact, the recoil upon the verge would destroy the isochronism of the balance; but by arresting each tooth at a point which is as near the center of the verge as possible the effect will be to remedy this evil, to mollify the movement, and to prevent the escapement from derangement and rapid wear. From this description it will be seen that we are enabled to use a common ratchet-wheel as the scape-wheel, and to-apply such a wheel directly to the verge or staff of the balancewheel, and thus obtain avery simple and cheap e. OLPBIIKIU, divested of all separate and complex appliances, which only increase friction and the number of wearing parts. We are also enabled, by arranging the pallets or points of repose on one verge, as described, to copstruct these verges very cheaply and rapidly. Hence we are enabled to greatly diminish the cost of clock, watch, or other escapements.

We propose to apply our new escapement to all kinds of clocks and watches, and do not confine ourselves to its use exclusively in spring-clocks. The bracket, which supports the balance-wheel, verge, and spring, is applied to the frame of the clock by set-screws,which pass through an oblong vertical slot, at, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. When these screws a a are set up tightly, they confine the bracket A rigidly in its place. A set-screw, g, is tapped through the bracket at the point Where the bracket-plate is bent over the upper edge of the plate A, and by means of this screw the bracket can be adjusted very nicely and thepallets of the verge I) set in a proper relation to the points of the scape-wheel 61.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Constructinga staffer verge in such manner that the pallets or points of repose are adapted to receive the teeth of a common ratchet scape wheel, substantially as dc-' 

